Launch The Lions: January 2011

Friday 28 January 2011

Good evening

Hong Kong
The time in Hong Kong is just approaching 19:40.
Its a cloudy night with temperatures not dropping below 10°C

So lets take a look at some of the headlines from today

Probe as woman dies after wrong jab at hospital
Bumper catch of tourists at Aqua City opening
Swine flu victims `young and healthy'
People of Hong Kong Demand Justice and Welcome Shen Yun

But the one we are gunna run with is

'Bunny video's grim message'

Friday, January 28, 2011

A blood-soaked cartoon that marks the Year of the Rabbit by portraying a bunny revolt against brutal tiger overlords has become an online hit, with its thinly veiled stab at China's communist rulers. The video, in which the persecuted rabbits overthrow the tigers, went viral on video-sharing sites in recent days, thanks to its gruesome depiction of a number of recent scandals.
But it was unavailable on websites yesterday, apparently deleted by government censors.
The cartoon begins with baby rabbits dying horribly from drinking milk from Sanlu, the now-defunct dairy giant that was at the center of a 2008 scandal in which six babies died after drinking tainted milk.

In the online video, rabbit parents are beaten by tiger thugs when they complain, or are run over by cars and killed. After an orgy of violence as the bunnies rise up en masse, the video ends with a character saying: "It will really be an interesting year."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

from The Standard newspaper

ive had a quick look for the video but cant find it.

Theres also a lot of headlines about business matters, a lot higher ratio than we get here.
just shows how important the stock market is to hong kong

oh and heres some pictures of the cage dwellers Alison mentioned

Makes you wonder what the conditions these people were fleeing from were like

of course this is the same around the world, entire nations living in the streets.
Strange they didnt put this in that travel guide i got....

The Battle..

For Hong Kong.

8th December 1941. This morning you've heard the news of the bombing of pearl harbour just eight hours ago and you've heard plenty of rumours about the fighting on the Chinese mainland. The might of imperial japan is raging forward with unstoppable force.

The fighting was bloody and relentless. The commonwealth forces were doomed from the start being heavily outnumbered with little hope of reinforcements.

The Japanese are pouring across the river onto the island.

The garrison is scared.

Your neighbours are scared.

Your children are scared.

Theres no way off the island.

But what you fear most is a fate worse than death.

The stories of the savagery of imperial japan are well known

You've read in the papers about the POW camps and of the Naking massacre

On christmas day 1941 the commonwealth forces surrendered.

The remaining troops spent the next 3 years in the infamous Japanese POW camps

the remaining civilians were helpless to oppressive japanese occupation.

Hope thats set the scene a bit
not nice stuff but interesting nonetheless
i'm thinking about going in the war direction for my character designs and graphic novel/childrens book

so lets start with a bit of the ol' imagery

I must point out that some of the following images are canny disturbing and not nice to look at

i also must point out that i know not every Japanese soldier did stuff like this (just like not all german soldiers were nazis and that not every british/yank soldier was a saint.)

anyway...

in case you cant work out whats happening here, that would be chinese civilians getting buried alive.

That would be a soldier getting executed with a sword

I dont think this needs a caption

For those of you interested theres a lot of information about the Nanking massacre here (theres also a photo gallery, with a lot of material i deemed too horrific for this post)

And lookee what i stumbles upon

Private Albert Moralee from the 1st middlesex regiment, captured on the 25/12/1941

and from 10 derby terrace, south shields, county durham

Brings it closer to home dont it?

Anyway i'l be adding more on the battle of hong kong at a later date
I dont think i want to go in the whole war crimes direction
i was talking to malcolm about this the other week, about looking at the day to day sturggle of the common soldier
about how on both sides of no mans land they have a lot in common ya know?

Over n out

Something you should see

TIGER DOG

From China foto press

Tuesday 25 January 2011

Dragons

And other mythical/magic things...

regarding the Sì Shòu 四獸 (or the Four Guardians of the Four Compass Directions)
At the heart of Chinese mythology are four spiritual creatures, each guarding a direction on the compass.
Theyve also got their own seasons.

'Tortoise (Black Warrior) = North, Winter, Black, Water
White Tiger (Kirin) = West, Fall, White, Metal
Red Bird (Phoenix) = South, Summer, Red, Fire
Dragon = East, Spring, Blue/Green, Wood'

Cool eh?
What caught my eye the most was when they decided to combine two of these mythical guardians to create this...

Thats right Turtle-Dragons

So in my sketchbook ive been experimenting with portraying hong kong as a mythical creature ive tried dragons,lions,giant sea creatures and a turtle carrying the city on their backs

But i think this creature fits the bill perfectly

the turtle representing hong kongs deep attachment to the ocean
and the dragon, a symbol of wealth and power throughout china, represents hong kong as the huge rich metropolis that it is

So i'l give that a bash

Also found these. some of the earliest images of chinese mythology, i think theyre pretty damn amazing

And heres some more traditional style chinese art to get the creative radiowaves broadcasting

So i think i need to capture the beauty of tradtional chinese art with the essence of hong kong city life...

Also found an artist called TOSHIYUKI ENOKI

some of his work....

not bad
will look into him more when i have the time
you all should aswell.

Thursday 20 January 2011

More from the sketchbook

Work in progress

Had a bash at a bit of Chinese, im pretty sure this says Hong Kong...

More dragon work

Goodies!

Afternoon all.

Well the Postman brought me some goodies today...

AA hong Kong travel guide

Complete with transport map (which looks suspiciously like a London underground map)

Has some recommended attractions to visit, this one being the ocean park aquarium type thing, complete with pandas?? The most aquatic of all the bears...

Kowloon is not far from central Hong Kong, apparently the place to go if you want to experience the everyday life of ordinary people away from the sleepless city.

Ten thousand Buddha temple, apparently there are a lot more than ten thousand in the temple. Historical roots.

Po Lin Buddha. Asia's largest seated Buddha. pretty cool eh?

Space museum. For some reason i didn't expect something like this to be in Hong Kong. But definitely a place id go if i was able.

100 HKD and a travel guide. I'm all set

Some good stuff in the travel guide. A lot about food and restaurants as well as a top 25 attractions list. Should come in handy for creating the travel guide thingy mijiggy.

Anyway yesterday i stopped by Thomas Cook and picked up 100 Hong Kong Dollars. The woman behind the counter wasn't too impressed with having to order in £8 worth of Hong Kong Dollars especially for me.

I found it amusing.


I think theyre pretty cool looking. Anything with a lion stuck on it has my vote.

And this is an old calender i dug out that my local takeaway give to me one new year. I've got plans for it.

For those of you...

Who are looking at Sunderland for this module

Theres a Lewis Carroll exhibition at the Head of Steam Museum in Darlington which might be worth a look at
Runs until the 31st of March

Click for PDF of the poster

Sneak Peak - Sketchbook work

Exploring the link that China has with nature, combined with the bustling metropolis of Hong Kong

Hong Kong is meant to be one of the best places to shop in the world

More exploration with nature and Chinese folklore incorporated into a basic map, a concept i will be taking further for the second assignment of creating a map.

More to follow...